Many prosocial behaviors involve social risks such as speaking out against a popular opinion, bias, group norm, or authority. However, little is known about whether adolescents' prosocial tendencies develop over time with their perceptions of social risks. This accelerated longitudinal study used within-subject growth-curve analyses to test the…

The authors designed and evaluated an innovative, branded campaign called 'Adelante' to promote positive youth development (PYD) and reduce risk behaviors among Latino youth near Washington, DC. Repeated cross-sectional surveys were conducted in the intervention and a comparison community to evaluate campaign exposure and changes in PYD outcomes.…

Public health practice involving adolescents is largely focused on preventing or delaying the initiation of risk behavior. However, given the experimental and exploratory nature of this developmental period, this is often impractical. This article focuses on behavioral transitions and the ways in which youth involved in risk behaviors shift to…

For those in health education, the year 1969 marked the debut of "School Health Review," the forerunner to the current "American Journal of Health Education." The inaugural issue of "School Health Review," in September of 1969 included the article, "Changing Health behavior in Youth," by Dr. Godfrey M. Hochbaum. This article reviews the 1969…

All teenagers take risks as a normal part of growing up. Risk-taking is the tool an adolescent uses to define and develop his or her identity, and healthy risk-taking is a valuable experience. Healthy adolescent risk-taking behaviors which tend to have a positive impact on an adolescent's development can include participation in sports, the…

The third in a series of reports from P/PV's three-year study of the role Boys & Girls Clubs play in the lives of the youth they serve, "Making Every Day Count" examines how Club participation is related to youth's positive and healthy development in three outcome areas identified by Boys & Girls Clubs of America as central to its mission: good…

Evaluated two adolescent tobacco-cessation programs based on stages of change: an educational program for adolescents not yet thinking about quitting and a cessation program for adolescents ready to quit. Participant evaluation indicated that both interventions successfully helped reduce adolescent smoking. The educational program was the most…